Modern personal computers can be equipped with a multitude of applications that facilitate performance of a variety of tasks including but not limited to word processing tasks, generation of one or more spreadsheets, photo editing, instant messaging, Internet browsing, amongst others. In many of these applications, specialized toolbars can be installed. Pursuant to an example, a toolbar can be downloaded by way of the Internet and installed in an Internet browser. Once installed, the toolbar can allow a user to quickly obtain access to one or more web sites or services. For instance, the toolbar may be displayed in a framespace of the Internet browser and may include a plurality of selectable buttons.
Typically, selection of one of the buttons in the toolbar causes a new browser window or tab to be opened, wherein the browser window or tab is directed to a certain site corresponding to the selected toolbar button. In some instances, however, it may be inconvenient for the user to have a new browser window presented over an existing browser window and/or to have the browser navigate away from a web page that is currently being perused by the user.
In addition, some toolbars may be configured with one or more selectable buttons that when selected, direct the user to a web page that requests user credentials (e.g., user name and password). Once the user has provided such credentials and the credentials have been verified, the toolbar can be customized in accordance with predefined preferences of the user. Thus, type of buttons and arrangement of buttons may be displayed in the toolbar in accordance with predefined user preferences. Again, however, requiring the user to navigate to a new page to provide sign-in credentials may be inconvenient to the user. Furthermore, requesting user credentials in such a manner may leave the user susceptible to a phishing attack. For instance, a sophisticated hacker may create a graphical user interface that looks substantially similar to a graphical user interface used by the intended recipient of the user credentials. Thus, a user may unknowingly provide their credentials to malicious source.